Chapter 1 - College Life Sucks

"Get up, Ethan! How long are you going to lick the ground, loser, haha!" The brash and mocking voice of an 18-year-old youngster echoed on the rooftop of the Blue Hills College as he kicked around another 18-year-old boy on the ground.

"Haha, Ken, go easy on him. The poor fellow might have his ribs fractured," Another youngster laughed from the side as he enjoyed Ken beating up Ethan. He was of average height but was fat and had huge size, making him look quite intimidating, not as much as Ken, who gave off an intimidating vibe.

"Oh please, Fatty Po, he shouldn't be that weak, hehe," Ken said as he kicked Ethan's stomach violently, making him grimace in agony and pain as he clutched his stomach.

"You boys are so boring. At least strip him before beating the shit out of him," A girl with half black and half colored pink hair and piercing on her brows said lazily as she smoked the cigarette in her hand while leaning against the grill.

"Layna, I am not as perverted as you. But if it was a girl, I would have still given it a thought," Ken said with an evil smirk.

"Asshole."

Ken was tall but lean with a mean face and a cigarette in his mouth, while Ethan was tall as well with a slim-toned build. He had short jet black hair and effulgent molten-brown eyes.

Till coming to college, he was a bright and dashing boy, but the moment he entered college and met the youngster named Ken as his classmate, his college days became hell for him.

Ethan had a pleasing and charming face. But it was his confidence and charisma, coupled with the fact that he topped the entrance exams and won a scholarship, that attracted quite some attention on the first day.

However, this made Ken Han, who was coming from the most distinguished family in the town, feel threatened. Usually, he was the center of attention wherever he went, and he was even more angered to learn that Ethan was just the son of a sick single mother and was living a lower-middle-class life.

This made him pick on Ethan and bully him, though it was not so easy at first since Ethan was stronger than he thought and couldn't be dealt with just physical force.

But this didn't make him give up. Instead, he cunningly found out about Ethan's greatest weakness and exploited it to suppress him and show him who the boss was instead of merely using brute force.

Ethan's face was red and sweaty but had only a bloody scratch on his forehead as Ken made sure to not hurt his face so that others won't notice anything suspicious, not that he was too worried since he was coming from a well-off family.

Even if something happened, his family would simply send people to silence any trouble.

"P-Please stop…" Ethan gritted his teeth as he begged them to stop while shielding himself with his arms. He considered begging beneath his dignity, but he just couldn't risk making his mother suspicious if he came home too hurt.

"Aww, look at this girl. He's gonna cry, haha. Hmph, who told you to come empty-handed without my booze?" Ken asked as he stepped on Ethan's back.

"T-They…wouldn't let me buy without an ID card…" Ethan said as he suppressed his groans, but inwardly his nerves were quivering with rage as he wished he could just break their legs and be done with it.

But all these were just pure feelings and thoughts, and he knew that he couldn't afford to fight back lest he put his mother in danger. This was the sad reality of not having enough wealth or power.

As for asking for help, only he knew the best how useless it was, especially when complaining to the college authorities. In fact, after Ken learned about him complaining to the college authorities, he was really about to pull back the donation for Ethan's mother's heart surgery as his father owned the biggest hospital in town where his mother was a patient.

The only way Ethan was able to stop him was by giving in to his demands which were to become his errand boy.

The last thing Ethan wanted was to let his mother's condition become worse by postponing her treatment. As long as the donation for her surgery was active, she only needed to wait for the right donor heart.

He had joined this college not too long ago, and since then, Ken and his friends, including Fatty Po and Layna, were a nightmare for him. The others following these three were just another bunch of nuisance. No matter how much he tried to avoid them, he would still get caught in their clutches.

Ken snorted, hearing his words as he crouched down and grabbed his hair to pull up his head, "Then you should have fucking given them your ID," He said in a scathing tone.

"B-But my mother would find out…You know about her condition, and I can't—"

"Awww, what? You can't make her feel bad for buying a silly drink? Is your mother a weakling like you too, hahaha," Ken laughed along with Fatty Po, whose neck was jiggling with all the fat underneath it while Layna was filming the whole thing for fun.

The bones in Ethan's knuckles were cracking, but he could only continue to keep them like that.

Ken's expression then turned dark and cold as he pulled Ethan's head closer and said, "Look, chickenass. Do you seriously think I give a fuck about what your mother would think? Next time you better get what I want, or your mother will surely die of a heart attack when she sees her name stricken off from the donor list hehe. Let's go, guys! I am tired of dealing with this chicken."

Layna and Fatty Po followed Ken, but on the way, Fatty Po kicked Ethan on his butt for fun while Layna spat out her bubblegum on his body before leaving the roof while the other youngsters followed them.

Ethan's hands had closed into fists as he groaned in pain and tried to get up while feeling immense resentment and rage in his heart.

'Why…Why is this world so unfair…Why should I suffer for nothing…" Ethan's nerves were boiling with resentment and indignation. But thinking about his mother, all this urge to fight back would dissipate away. For now, all he could do was endure and blame his luck for ending up in the same college as Ken though it was the best one in town.

Ethan got up, rubbing his sore body as he dragged himself to the door to go downstairs and leave for home. He only wished that he had the power to change things.

As he walked through the halls, he could feel the gazes from students who knew him. In fact, most of them knew him even if he wasn't in their classes since Ken, Fatty Po, Layna and their lackeys was most famous around here, and nobody would dare to offend them. However, everyone or most knew that Ethan was their errand boy.

And as he walked past the halls, he could feel gazes of scorn and ridicule and even whispers of people calling him a loser and weakling. Some were even shooting him gazes of pity, but it only made Ethan feel even angrier since he didn't need their pity but their help.

But none of them ever helped him, even when he looked at them for help whenever he got bullied right in front of them.

So all of them were the same in his eyes. He realized that the world would never give a shit about him, no matter how pathetic he was. In fact, the more pathetic his situation was, the fewer people would care.

With these bitter thoughts, he slowly walked back home.